This invention relates to a cloth feeding apparatus for a cloth spreading machine, and more particularly to a belt cradle roll support for a cloth spreading machine.
Various types of cloth feed apparatus have been utilized in the past for supporting and feeding a web of cloth from a cloth roll on a cloth spreading machine, in which the cloth roll is supported upon a cradle of cloth rollers or cloth feed belt, such as illustrated in the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ 1,265,452 Isaacs May 7, 1918 2,118,556 Haberstump et al May 24, 1938 2,276,479 Gilbert Mar. 17, 1942 2,291,351 Scoles et al July 28, 1942 3,394,897 Martin Sr. July 30, 1968 3,412,950 Martin Sr. Nov. 26, 1968 3,468,529 Martin Sr. et al Sept. 23, 1969 3,591,166 Ebisu July 6, 1971 3,627,301 Benson et al Dec. 14, 1971 3,782,649 Frederick et al Jan. 1, 1974 4,519,595 Adachi May 28, 1985 4,676,494 Smith et al June 30, 1987 ______________________________________
Although not related to cloth spreading machines, U.S. Pat. No. 2,122,674, issued to Wardle on Jul. 5, 1938, discloses a pair of pivotal roller-supporting cradle adapted to support a large coil of metal strip or metal sheet material.
The above Isaacs patent discloses various types of cloth roll supporting cradle rollers. FIG. 3 of Isaacs discloses a pair of frames supporting a plurality of parallel transverse rollers in a V-shape and adapted to be pivotally adjusted about a common pivot axis, and which may be lowered to a horizontal position in order to load and unload the cloth roll.
Harberstump et al, Gilbert and Smith et al disclose V-shaped belt cradles for supporting cloth rolls in a cloth spreading machine.
The prior Smith et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,494 discloses a V-shaped belt-types cradle support for a cloth roll including a pair of intermediate cloth support rolls, all in relatively fixed positions relative to each other.
It has been found that a belt-type cradle cloth roll support, as disclosed in the Smith et al patent, operates quite satisfactorily as long as the cloth roll is large, and in its initial unwinding stages. However, as the web is unwound from the cloth roll, the roll substantially diminishes in diameter until it becomes quite small. As the roll becomes smaller, it also becomes lighter in weight. When a small roll is supported upon a relatively shallow V-shaped belt trough, as illustrated in FIG. 2 of the Smith et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,494, the frictional forces between the cloth roll and the moving feed belts is reduced, and the small roll tends to become displaced in the feed direction, and tends to roll to and fro in the feed direction upon the feed belts. Such movement of the cloth roll creates variations in the tension in the cloth web as it is being spread, and consequently produces excessive tension, slack, wrinkling and/or disalignment of the fabric webs. The wrinkling and disalignment is especially emphasized in thin fabrics, as well as stretchy fabrics, such as knitwear.